lisa byrne – Page 3 – Tonic Consultancy

13th June 20220

Why Advertise On London Underground

The London Underground, the capital’s rapid transit system is as much of an icon of the city as any of the popular landmarks. Serving the Greater London area and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, the Tube sees 4.8 million passengers every day, carrying them through the 400km network and 270 stations.

This means that London Underground, and the new Elizabeth Line, is a prime location for advertising in a city that has a population of nearly nine million, as well as the millions of tourists who visit the capital every year. Many companies, large and small, advertise on the London Underground to promote their brands, products, and services.

It is easy to see why advertising on the underground is so popular with businesses, having such a wide reach. We have a look at what the options available for advertising on the London Underground are, the costs factors, and the benefits for your business.

What is London Underground Advertising?

London Underground advertising is out-of-home advertising that leverages the infrastructure of the Tube network, to promote brands, products, and services.

Not only does London have a population of around 8.9 million, but it is the destination of millions of visitors every year, including people in London on business and tourists from other parts of the UK and from overseas, many of whom take regular trips across Greater London on the Tube.

This potential exposure to a diverse demographic of people makes advertising on London Underground a popular and profitable investment for many businesses, as they are able to target audiences on platforms, lifts, and elevators who have the time to take in marketing messages while they wait.

According to statistics:

4.8 million people use the London Underground every day.
47 per cent of London Underground commuters only use the tube to commute.
60 per cent of London Underground users notice when advertising on the Tube is changed.

The advertising options available on the London Underground are varied and have long been proven to be effective. It does mean that there is much to consider when developing a marketing campaign.

Advertising options for the London Underground

Let’s have a look at the options available to you for advertising on the Tube.

LEPs (Stair, lift and escalator panels) – These are the posters typically seen at the side of the escalators and in lifts as you travel to and from train stations and tube platforms. LEPs are the most popular form of London Underground advertising, and while traditionally printed on paper, there are also digital display LEP panels in larger stations.

LEPs are seen by anyone standing on the escalators or using the lifts, and therefore have a high impact on the majority of passengers. But with so many LEPs on every line, your advert must have strong clear messages to get the point across quickly as the dwell time is short. This form of advertising allows you to easily target key stations for a greater ROI.

Tube Tunnel Adverts – These large format posters on Tube walls have a greater impact than LEPs, and are seen by passengers standing on platforms. They are typically favoured by larger and international brands for advertising and help to build brand awareness.

Passengers are often waiting for a few minutes on platforms, which means there is more time for the message to be absorbed and understood given the longer dwell time.

Large format posters on station platforms – Smaller and cheaper than Tube Tunnel Adverts, these 4- or 6-sheet posters have similar benefits and are typically bought in packages consisting of more than one poster.

This allows advertising to be spread throughout different platforms and stations, increasing the reach and impact with London Underground passengers.

Walk-way branding – This form of advertising is popular with larger businesses, but it can be expansive, and thus needs a far larger budget. It can involve branding entire walkways or monopolising all the posters in one section of a station.

Consider the rebranding of Piccadilly Circus as ‘Picardilly Circus’ to advertise the launch of the new Star Trek Picard series on Amazon Prime in 2020. This generated national media coverage and delighted passengers, whether they were Trekkies or not!

The main benefit of this form of advertising is that passengers are unable to escape it, as they will have to walk through a plethora of posters and branding to reach their destination. They are ideal for product launches or niche events and tend to become talking points with Tube users, and can even become viral.

Adgate advertising – This is advertising placed at the gates that all tube users need to pass through, whether to tap Oyster cards, bank cards, or use their tickets. As every passenger has to go through these gates, it is a popular form of advertising as it gets a lot of exposure and attention. It is also commonly paired with adgate advertising at railway stations.

Concourses/ticket area/entrances – To complement advertising campaigns throughout the Tube tunnels, platforms and LEPs, simple poster sites in the concourses are a popular choice. These can target an audience that may be buying tickets, waiting for friends, or more.

Tube train advertising (aka tube seat advertising or tube car panels) – These are the small posters seen above seats on the Tube carriages. They are typically eye-catching and seen by passengers as they travel.

With mobile phone reception being spotty at best on the London Underground, passengers often have little to do or look at while travelling to their destination, meaning that this option can be very effective and reaches every stop along that particular line.

What are the costs involved in advertising on the London Underground?

There are a number of factors which will determine the cost of advertising on the Tube, including:

Time of year – as with any outdoor marketing campaign, it is recommended to book as far ahead as possible, particularly to target key dates, for instance, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc, to ensure you get the best rates and the prime underground sites.
Format of advert – Size matters! Smaller posters will almost always be cheaper than large format posters.
Choice of stations – Stations closer to Central London, and thus with greater daily footfall, will be more expensive than those on the outskirts of the capital. It would be advantageous to consider your target market and if you want to focus on certain parts or demographics of Greater London.
Advertising campaign length – while it is more expensive to have posters stay up for a prolonged period, it is proven that longer campaigns have a far better ROI. London Underground advertising typically has a minimum of two weeks, while many advertisers tend to do a month or more.

To find out more information and the specific costs for advertising on the London Underground, you will need to consider exactly what you are promoting, your budgets, when you want to advertise, and where you would like to advertise. London Underground advertising can be expensive, but it is very cost-effective and produces great results.

What are the Benefits of London Underground Advertising?

There are many benefits to advertising on the London Underground, as outlined above, but the main benefits for your business are:

Huge exposure and a receptive advertising environment
The ability to target stations with key messaging
The potential to be seen by people from all over the Uk and the world, not just London residents and commuters
A wide range of options to suit all budgets
Adept at establishing and maintaining a positive brand perception.

If you’d like to find out more about advertising on the London Underground and how it can benefit your business, then come and talk to our experts at Tonic today!

Blogs, Technology

10th June 20220

The Benefits Of TV Advertising

If your marketing department is planning a new ad campaign, then they will likely be faced with a multitude of options, such as social media adverts, email campaigns, influencer marketing, and many more. However, there are many advantages to TV advertising, and it’s not just for huge brands. We look at why you should be considering TV advertising in the UK.

It may feel logical that with the popularity of the many streaming services available in the UK, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+, TV advertising could be losing out. However, TV advertising is far from dead.

UK TV viewing facts and figures

TV accounts for 37 per cent of the average Brit’s media consumption and makes up a whopping 95 per cent of all actively viewed video advertising, which provides it with a reach and mass-media potency that internet advertising simply cannot match. TV still comes out on top when it comes to returns on investment, awareness and brand recall.

A UK TV viewer will watch around 41 TV ads on any given day, which makes TV advertising still the most effective means of video marketing.

According to statistics from 2020, the average Brit watched over 22 and a half hours of TV a week, and this trend continues to increase. 28.5 million Brits own at least one TV. Television makes up 37 per cent of the average Brit’s daily media consumption, and 96 per cent of Brits watch TV weekly. which can be a huge potential customer base for your brand.

Isn’t TV advertising just for big brands?

No one can deny that the bigger your marketing budget, the bigger the audience you can advertise to, and the more you will see in return.

But this is true for any advertising campaign, from traditional print media to paid social media advertising, and TV advertising can prove to be highly advantageous for small and medium-sized businesses, too, with targeted TV advertising and innovations such as Sky AdSmart, making it much more cost-effective.

Where to advertise?

There are over 480 TV channels in the UK, including nationwide UK TV channels such as BBC, Channel 4 and Sky, but also a wealth of regional and local channels, from the ITV regions such as Anglia, Granada, or STV in Scotland, to London Live, The Bay Liverpool, and Notts TV.

With the majority of these channels owned by the networks, packages can be bought to provide national and regional advertising, and specific transmitters can be purchased to further narrow down targeted advertising within regions.

However, there is another way to buy regional TV, via Sky AdSmart, which has been developed to target viewers in different locations, different ages, lifestyles, and many other demographics.

Sky AdSmart can target smaller audiences such as towns and cities and even specific postcodes by using marketing data to allow advertising platforms such as Sky and Channel 4 to provide a bespoke service that will allow smaller brands access to premium viewing environments, not just limited to linear broadcasting, but also in video-on-demand (VoD) services.

Why advertise on TV?

One of the immediate advantages of TV advertising is that it builds trust with your audience. According to a 2016 survey, when asked ‘In which, if any, of the following places are you most likely to find advertising that is most trusted?’, respondents scored TV ads 42 per cent, while print newspapers trailed way behind with 13 per cent, and YouTube with a mere six per cent.

TV adverts run full screen, they are not competing for space on a busy webpage, or an annoying pop-up ad at the bottom of an app, nor are they subject to internet ad-blockers.

While streaming and VoD services are more popular than ever, in 2018, 86 per cent of Brits still regularly watched live TV instead of recording to watch later (and skipping ads), meaning that the majority of TV viewers will still watch TV adverts.

TV advertising has been creating viral videos long before the term existed, and even now we will all ask each other if we’ve seen the latest advert for a brand or product, especially during the Christmas period. Word of mouth existed long before the internet brought us viral videos.

TV advertising can deliver a huge advantage to your brand, driving market share, building trust, and providing scale and reach. Brands can buy the exact number of ratings/viewers they need, and target specific audiences, whether it’s Love Island fans, or families gathered around the TV to watch Saturday evening entertainment.

The advantages of TV advertising

Reach

There is no other kind of media able to provide the same reach with a single advertisement. TV advertising can reach huge audiences frequently and quickly, as much as 70 per cent of the UK population in one day.

While there is a growth in people watching TV and film via tablets, computers and smartphones, none of them are as ubiquitous as the living room TV, and with many UK households owning more than one TV, that reach increases.

Influence

Television, compared to other video marketing platforms, has one of the highest engagement rates. According to data from the websites of organisations that use TV advertising, TV ads contribute to around 35 per cent of all visits to the number of all website visitors.

Studies from around the world have shown that there is a 60 per cent likelihood of consumers buying a product due to influence from a TV advert, compared to 40 per cent from online and social media ads. TV advertising has retained an air of prestige and quality that other channels are unable to meet.

Audience targeting

Targeting a specific audience is not just used by the internet, using data from Google, Facebook and more, and it has been utilised by TV advertising for a long time. TV ads are shown at certain times of day, on certain channels, and during certain shows to ensure they are being shown to the right audience.

This has become even more sophisticated with the advent of Sky AdSmart and targeted advertising has become even more integral to TV advertising.

Captive Audiences

While there is a certain amount of ad-skipping in VoD and recorded TV, and viewers are free to get up and pop the kettle on or visit the bathroom during ad breaks, the majority will stay in their seats, and even if only passively, they will be exposed to your adverts. In the case of recorded TV, if adverts are skipped, the brand will not be charged.

As VoD TV grows in popularity, many platforms are now including adverts before the show or film they want to watch, and some have now implanted unskippable ads that have to be watched in order to view the on-demand content.

Building trust and legitimacy

It can take time, effort, and cost to develop a TV advert that is suitable for a wide audience, but the engagement and trust inferred by TV over other platforms provide a great ROI. TV also can establish a greater sense of legitimacy and trust in your brand than other platforms, and brand recognition is bound to increase following even a single ad campaign.

For example, whether or not you have used the service, we all know the Go Compare jingle that has been in use for over a decade, you don’t ever have to have eaten Kellogg’s Frosties to know ‘They’re Grrrreat!’, or how about ‘Barry Scott’ enthusiastically promoting Cillit Bang?

Are you convinced about the power of TV advertising yet?

When it comes to video advertising, TV is the most widely viewed medium and has become home to many small and medium-sized brands, who are easily able to find a place among the traditional TV advertisers and larger brands.

If you’re looking to take advantage of TV advertising to promote your brand, product, or services, and looking for expert advice and help, talk to Tonic today!

Company, News from Tonic

13th December 20210

Reasons to use a media buying Agency/Consultancy like Tonic.

Paid media is used as a key marketing channel by many companies who understand the huge ROI it can provide (when done correctly, of course!) There are so many benefits of media from the opportunity to target the right audience at the right time in the right place to the endless ways to deliver your key marketing messages. We appreciate that clients have and can go direct and straight to the suppliers to manage their media buying in-house – and the questions we often get asked from new clients are about the benefits of using a media agency like Tonic. Hopefully, this blog will explain to clients new (and maybe remind the existing ones) a few of the reasons why it pays off to use a media buying agency or consultant.

Some of the common reasons that companies are reluctant at the start are usually down to the following:

The belief is that by controlling things in-house – campaigns will be more streamlined.
The belief is that they will get a better deal going directly to the source rather than use a media buying agency/consultant.
They are not really sure what a media planner & buyer actually does and how they can help.

The honest truth is there are huge benefits to working with a media buying agency & consultancy like Tonic. You may be thinking, well of course we would say that – but keep reading to really understand why.

We deal with all media relations on your behalf

This alone can save you hours! How many calls/emails a day do you get from sales staff/suppliers wanting your whole budget, trying to sell you something that may actually not fit with your overall marketing plan and strategy and only covers one area of the media mix? Admittedly, some of the direct sales staff are great salespeople – and the deals they have can seem enticing. But it’s worth remembering that all direct salespeople have targets to hit each month. At Tonic we are not governed by targets or sales figures, we work with what works for our clients to achieve the right results. We provide an honest and independent approach to not only one part of your marketing – but the whole mix. . As a business owner, shareholder, or marketing lead you have far more important things to do during your day than to deal with media sales calls, negotiation, media/market research, planning, buying, as well as measuring effectiveness and reporting. Working with us will free up your time so you can focus on the high priority tasks, allowing you to see the bigger picture, scale your business and increase your revenue.

No direct cost to you for using our services

This is something most people are shocked by! We are compensated directly by the media suppliers we work with. We do not charge service or retainer fees for our media buying or tie our clients into long term contracts. We regularly work on a project by project basis as we are confident that you will be happy with our services and want to use us again – after all, we are only as good as our last campaign. We are here to make life easier, save money, provide unbiased advice and provide greater ROI for our clients.

Negotiation skills

As a media buying agency we deal with media sales representatives daily and for numerous clients, so we generally have greater buying power and discounts only available to us that your company won’t be able to benefit from by going direct. As an agency, we can leverage the collective budgets of all of our clients to benefit each individual client. This buying power can help your campaigns have better cost and ad positioning. Any savings we make, we can pass on to our clients.

Experience

We have established long-standing relationships with different media suppliers and can work this influence on your behalf. As professional media planners and buyers, we understand the market, pricing, and cost per impression. We can recognise what is ‘really a great deal and what is actually just ‘overpriced’. We can also monitor voidage deals or keep an eye on the market for some last-minute bargains. We have worked on the supplier and client-side so know a thing or two about how to buy smarter.

We understand how to track our campaigns

Many mediums offer a guaranteed cost per thousand impressions, reach or impacts. We know how to track these and further negotiate additional ads or added value benefits through filler spots, additional impressions and also overshow where possible. We work and speak with suppliers on a daily basis and love a spreadsheet as well as quantifying your campaign through post-campaign analysis.

Unbiased Perspective

We can offer a fresh and unbiased perspective for your marketing objectives. We have absolutely no bias towards one medium or another, which allows us to offer advice based solely on your marketing objectives and what is truly best for your business. Being constantly in the market and being updated across all supplier products and services means a greater understanding of the media landscape.

We have access to specialist tools and data and we love to crunch the numbers

One of the biggest weaknesses with in-house media buying is usually on the planning side. In-house buyers can lack the tools necessary to identify and engage key audiences at scale.

Working with us will allow you to leverage our advanced tools and systems. Meaning your media buys will be methodically and insightfully planned to help you reduce ad wastage and improve response.

So why is Tonic different from any other media buying agency/Consultancy?

We work across all areas of Marketing

We pride ourselves on working with the best team and being able to offer you online and offline solutions. We bring in the right partners to deliver across the full media mix and can integrate and speak to/work with your existing agencies/teams to ensure that all channels speak to each other and maximise any revenue spent.

Our overheads are low

Our business model is a slightly different approach – we are a collaborative of media experts. Most of our team work remotely meaning that we don’t have massive overheads or offices filled with beanbags, pool tables and bars! It simply means that you get our experience and time and don’t have to pay a fee on top to compensate for our expenses.

We are passionate and provide the best customer experience

We literally love what we do and our clients describe us as ‘an extension of their team’. We always go the extra mile and our USP is the service that we provide.

If we can help you with any of your media buying or planning, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We would love to help, and of course, show the value in using our expert services. If you have any questions when it comes to partnering with a media agency like Tonic, we would love to hear from you!

Uncategorised

7th July 20210

The benefits of Radio advertising

What are the Benefits of Radio Advertising for my business?

Radio advertising is a fantastic cost-effective medium for most businesses whether you are a small enterprise or large corporation. Radio provides a high frequency and an even higher reach compared to many other marketing mediums, proven to drive people to take action.

Radio creates an emotional response to its listeners and in turn provides increased trust, brand awareness and as a result, boosts footfall into stores, increases online website visitors, and increases sales.

At Tonic, we believe in an audience-first approach and our in-depth understanding and experience into the demographics of radio enable us to plan a campaign that is tailored to your business, goals, audience, and campaign objectives.

If you would like to better understand how radio can help grow your business, and how we can help you to get the most from this medium then read on!

Top Benefits of Radio Advertising (The numbers)

Radio advertising is highly cost-effective – providing more audience impressions for your money than most other mediums and covering wide geographical areas.

Radio can offer short lead times, making it ideal for strategic advertising messages at short notice such as a launch, event, or time-sensitive campaign.

Radio is highly targeted; you can target by station type; age, social grade, gender, the region as well as selecting the optimal time of day and day of the week for your audience.

Radio is as popular as ever with airtime now being available on all types of devices whenever, wherever thanks to smart speakers, smartphones and the internet as well as DAB platforms and online listening taking radio into the digital world.

Two-thirds of adults listen to the radio every single week!

How can radio advertising benefit your business?

Increases response online and sales.

Radio provides immediate results, with over half of responses generated within 24 hours of hearing a radio ad.

Boosts brand awareness, increases consideration and memorability.

Builds relevance and trust.

Radio advertised brands feel more relevant and are much more trusted by radio listeners.

How can you measure the effectiveness of radio advertising campaigns?

It is important to consider how you will measure the effects of your investment in your radio ad spend. You can evaluate the success of a radio campaign based on results such as website visits, increased footfall in-store, and increased leads and sales.

We always suggest our clients monitor metrics leading up to any radio advertising, during and post the radio advertising so they can compare the success.

How do I book a radio advertising campaign?

So, you are interested in radio advertising, but where do you start?

From helping you develop your call to action, goals, and strategy, as well as researching your target audience we will work with you to recommend the optimum laydown for your advertising schedule. We will then work on the production and scriptwriting for your approval and manage the whole campaign from beginning to end to get your advert live on air successfully and on time. We will always advise on the best approach based on your specific goals and budget.

Why choose Tonic for Radio Advertising?

Whatever your campaign goal or budget, we have 20 years of experience in the media industry and can produce high-quality radio commercials that will provide a high impact for the best price available.

We take away all the stress of producing and planning radio campaigns by strategizing, scripting, producing, and managing your campaign to get you the best price with maximum exposure. We offer a complete service, from your initial brief through to delivering your ads live on the radio, taking care of every last detail.

Interested in finding out more about how we can help you to make your next radio advertising campaign a success?

Get in touch: hello@tonicconsultancy.co.uk

Blogs, Digital

7th July 20210

Why does my business need a blog?

Why does my business need a blog?

Do you want to find new customers and build better relationships with your existing ones? Do you want to create readymade content for your social media posts and position yourself as an industry leader – all for virtually no outlay? Then your business needs a blog.

Find new customers

… or even better, let them find you! A blog will help you to do this in several ways.

Firstly, it will allow you to create content for your website that answers questions that your potential customers may have – such as “Why does my business need a blog?” – so when they search online, your website pops up. You can maximise this by researching keywords, categories and topics which your potential customers are most likely to search for, but even without doing this, regular blogging will naturally help you to increase your reach. Every post is another opportunity to appear in a web search and thus to drive traffic to your site.

Secondly, regularly adding pages to your blog will send a message to search engines such as Google that your website is active and regularly being updated and that they should include it in their search results. Without a blog, it’s difficult to do this unless you’re constantly updating or adding to the rest of your website.

Thirdly, if other people find your blog posts interesting and useful, they will share them, which will again help you to find a new audience.

Once potential customers have arrived on your blog, you can direct them towards other relevant pages of your website using internal links; turn them into leads by offering some sort of free content, such as a fact sheet, webinar or trial, in exchange for their details; and/or invite them to sign up for your emails, which they’re much more likely to do if they’ve already enjoyed your blog.

Build better relationships with existing customers

Writing a blog allows you to share far more of your own and your business’s personality than sales pages alone do – it’s a chance to show your customers who you are, not just what you do. Allowing your customers to get to know you better can deepen your relationship and mean that they’re far more likely to buy from you than a company they don’t know at all.

Customers also like to feel informed. By sharing your knowledge, you’re giving them something of value and they’re benefiting from the education that you provide.

Plus if you allow comments on your blog posts (and take the time to respond to them!), you can create a two-way conversation with your audience, which not only improves your connection with them, but is also readable by other visitors to your site and generally searchable by search engines. Not only just this build trust as your audience learns more about you, but it can also let you learn more about your audience and what they need, and thus hone and improve your business. (Want some help getting to know your audience? Click here.)

Create readymade content for your social media posts

It can be difficult continually to think of interesting, engaging content for your social media posts, but blog posts provide readymade content, and can be used several times using different quotations, figures or visuals. And, as mentioned above, if people like your blog, they will even share it themselves, thus increasing your reach.

And in addition to this, you will often find that you can reshare the same blog post several times months or even years apart, meaning that you have a solid library of content to fall back on.

Position yourself as an industry leader

Blog posts allow you to share more indepth information about your products and services than your sales pages alone, whether you’re writing a review, a how to guide, a case study or sharing your knowledge about a specific area.

Demonstrating your expertise in this way can help to establish yourself as an authority in your industry and enhance your professional image, and this in turn will build your customers’ trust that you have the necessary knowledge and can deliver what they need.

Becoming known as an authority in a specific area will also help you become more well-known, which means that your potential customer base will grow, and people are more likely to buy from you: if potential clients are already familiar with you and your brand then they are already warmed up for sales.

All this for almost zero outlay – it’s win-win! If you’re wondering where to start, you could even ask your existing audience what they’d like to hear more about: perhaps meeting the team, a before and after case study (who doesn’t love a makeover?), or a Q&A. It’ll get easier the more you do it (or you can always outsource) so take the leap and get stuck in – your business will thank you for it.

Stuck for time? Our team our experts at creating engaging copy or helping you to re-purpose copy you already have. Get in touch on hello@tonicconsultancy.co.uk

Out of home, Taxi Advertising

1st April 20210

Taxi Advertising

A Q&A with Huge Media

What is taxi advertising?

Using Iconic British fully licensed hackney cabs to carry various formats of brand messaging inside and out whilst they are working in busy city centres and urban areas.

How effective can it be?

With the right creative it can be extremely effective, especially for branding campaigns. As taxis negotiate busy arterial routes and command city centres the advertising messages are highly visible amongst an upmarket and urban audience.

What formats are available?

Liveries (fully wrapped taxis), Supersides (panels beneath the windows running the entire length of both sides of the taxi), Tip Seats (the two interior panels on the underside of the flip down seats for additional passengers) rear windscreens and promotional receipt pads, product placement and brand ambassador drivers.

How does it fit into an OOH/overall media campaign?

It can work very well in conjunction with all other media formats used, acting as a prompt whenever seen in busy city centres and in the suburbs. It can be linked to client social media campaigns, using QR codes, taxi selfie and promotional contact numbers.

How do I know where my ad is going?

You buy in ranks in specific general geographical areas but due to the nature of the business, there can be no guarantees of routes taken as drivers have to go where the fares dictate, although it is possible to upweight certain areas of interest (train stations, airports, City or West End in London etc). Suffice to say, even though you may not know the exact route your message is following, it will be one that is highly visible as the driver wants to earn as much revenue as possible. We are currently working with partners to develop a telematics system that will give more precise information regarding opportunities to see and distance covered.

What’s a minimum campaign you would suggest?

There’s no stock answer for this as it depends on many factors such as city centre targeted, planned campaign duration, campaign objectives, the actual message itself and populations of particular towns and cities.

What tips do you have for great creative?

As with most OOH, keep it simple and bold – although use of celebrity, bright colours and striking images usually help with standout. Sometimes less is more!

If you are interested in finding out how Taxi advertising may fit into your out of home marketing mix – contact us on 01829 782671 or hello@tonicconsultancy.co.uk

Company, Promotional Merchandise

9th March 20210

Promotional Merchandise – The Benefits.

The power of personalised promotional products as an effective marketing tool should not be underestimated. As the world becomes more connected through digital marketing, it can be easy to think that promotional products don’t have as much impact as they once did. However, research from The British Promotional Merchandise Association contradicts this:

87% of people keep a promotional item for a year or longer.

69% can recall the brand on a promotional item sent to them within the last 12 months.

56% of people said their impression of a brand improved after receiving a branded item.

People are always grateful for a free product, particularly one that is useful in daily life. Whether it’s a free pen, umbrella, t-shirt or face mask, these are all items that people use regularly and help to increase your brand awareness within a competitive marketplace.

Cost Effective

The use of promotional products is a marketing tool that is available to all businesses large and small, start-up and well-established. Manufacturers of branded products keep prices low for mass distribution. As a large percentage of people use promotional items for longer than a year, your brand leaves a lasting impact on them. This reflects a good return for an overall small investment.

Brand Recognition

Branded merchandise helps to create an emotional relationship between brands and consumers. 71% of people in a PPAI Consumer Study said they felt happy when receiving a promotional product. More importantly, 83% agreed that their impression of a brand positively changed as a direct result. It’s important to consider the longevity of your promotional item(s). A good quality product will mean that recipients are continuously reminded of the brand when they use it and are more likely to use your products or services when the need arises.

Integrated Marketing

The great thing about utilising promotional products is that you can incorporate it into your wider marketing mix. Smaller promotional products can be used as part of a direct mailing, while tradeshow giveaways can effectively support exhibitions. Products can be a nice touchpoint throughout a client’s journey with you. An integrated approach using a variety of channels is always the most effective way to promote a brand and improve brand awareness and loyalty.

Lead Generation

Have you thought of promotional products as lead generators? They can work as a more effective business card because they aren’t forgotten about in a drawer but used regularly providing a constant reminder of your brand. This in turn can lead to referrals from recipients as they are more likely to think of your company first.

The variety of branded merchandise now available means that there is a product suitable for every budget and every occasion. From pens to the latest technology, virtually any surface can now be digitally printed, meaning that there are a huge variety of options available to companies. And of course, it’s not just about attracting new customers, branded items are a great way of rewarding customer loyalty too.

In summary – people still love to get their hands on a freebie and at Tonic we believe that promotional merchandise shouldn’t be overlooked as part of your marketing campaign. We would love to help you with your next campaign – from branded stock to completely bespoke items – if you can think it we can add your brand to it.

Sources

BPMA Research 2017
Mapping Out The Modern Consumer – 2017 PPAI Consumer Study

News from Tonic, Out of home, Recent projects

15th February 20210

Recent Projects…

We ended 2020 and started 2021 with an out of home campaign for Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria’s suicide prevention. The “Let’s keep talking” creative was displayed on billboards, bus shelters, and phone kiosks throughout December and January driving maximum impact in local areas at a time when people were struggling in silence. Through the campaign – Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria encouraged people to discuss the challenging issues they are faced due to the lockdown.

The campaign has been shortlisted for a prestigious award at this year’s NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Awards. These awards celebrate inspirational examples of businesses, third sector organisations and the NHS working together to improve patient care and support health and care staff during COVID-19.

The background to the campaign was the huge risks associated with Isolation and lockdown and the effect that this could have on vulnerable people. Through insight gathered, the campaign was quickly mobilised to reach out and share support to those most at risk groups, through (amongst other formats) – a targeted digital and out of home campaign.

Hot spots were prioritised for a complete marketing and engagement programme and a strong relevant creative was developed. Through the delivery channels a narrative was adapted across the region dependent on the audience demographic and within specific locations.

The out of home campaign was planned strategically by cross referencing priority areas with audience data as well as utilising budgets effectively to deliver maximum exposure. The phone kiosk format fit effortlessly with the ‘let’s keep talking’ creative and provided large audiences across prime locations. We peppered the campaign with high impact 48 sheets on commuter routes, as well as a host of 6 sheets to repeat the message in similar locations. The overall out of home campaign delivered close to 4 million impacts across 8 weeks.

The impact in specific areas has resulted in a huge awareness of the support available for those who are vulnerable during this period and therefore has a huge impact on the health system, specifically in the management of the number of suicides in Lancashire and South Cumbria. The campaign will continue to progress and support people and services across the region with more stages of the campaign as we start to open from lockdown measures and risks are further identified due to other reasons (furlough ending, meaning redundancy etc).

Digital

18th January 20210

Social media marketing for business Q&A with Chloe

Can social media marketing really help my business?

Social media can absolutely help your business and we have seen it happen! No matter the size of your business, social media is now an essential piece of your core marketing strategy. Social media helps you to connect with potential customers, increase your brand awareness and build trust and community through engagement with your followers. With more than half of the world now using social media. 4.57 billion people around the world now use the internet, of those users, 346 million new users have come online within the last 12 months! Avid social media users are known to login to their favourite network multiple times a day, so It is an extremely powerful marketing tool! If you are not yet utilising it, your competitors will be dominating that market share.

What are the benefits of social media marketing for my company?

Some of the main benefits of social media are:

Increases brand awareness- each piece of content you publish increases your reach and audience.
Allows your business to give a positive impression and connection to your audience by humanising your brand. As a business if you take the time to engage by sharing content, commenting, and replying to customers or followers, it personifies your brand. And as the saying goes ‘people buy people’.
Social media marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies, even paid promotions can be successful for a relatively low cost in comparison to traditional marketing methods. Therefore, as a business you see a greater return on investment!
Greater Insight opportunities into the wants and desires of your customers. By monitoring your profile, you can see customer interests and opinions which is great to use for a ‘social listening exercise’.
Posting insightful and well-written content on your social media that adds value to your following by informing, educating, entertaining, and engaging is a great way to become an expert in your field.
Everything you do on social media can be measured which is essential for any marketing strategy. This allows you to measure what is successful and what isn’t in your strategy so you can constantly improve your efforts.

How should companies measure their social media marketing success?

It is important to measure your social media success for a multitude of reasons, but most importantly so that you can learn what is successful, what is not, and how you can improve your efforts.

The first step in your measurement plan should be to generate a list of what you are trying to achieve from using social media for your business and setting SMART Goals.

The next step is to match your goals to the relevant metrics and behaviours you can measure. For example, if you are trying to measure engagement, then looking at the form of engagement you want to track such as the sharing of a post, replies, comments, and clicks. Depending on your goals here is a few social media behaviours you could measure, based on the most common social media goals:

If you want to measure awareness, then use metrics like volume and reach.
If you want to measure engagement, then look for metrics on shares, comments, and replies.
If your goal is to drive traffic to your website, then track URL shares, clicks through rate and conversions.

If your goal is to increase your brand’s market share, then track the volume in relation to your competitors. How much of the overall conversation around your specific product and/or service is about your brand?

How much does social media marketing cost?

There are many options as a business to make use of social media marketing. If you have the time and inclination to learn, research and are skilled enough to create effective content, publish and manage all interaction, then you can do social marketing yourself for free! However, to do it effectively, it can be very time consuming, especially when spinning all the plates of running a business. If you want to really make an impact, you are always best outsourcing to a professional who has this specific expertise. The cost of social media marketing varies based on your requirements. Some things to think about before you look to hire an expert is: what social channels you need to be on, how often you want to post, the type of content you want to share and how much time will need to be invested specifically for engagement time to nurture and grow your audience.

What is the ROI?

Social media ROI is a measure of all social media actions that create value, divided by the investment you have made in your social media. After all the time, money, and resources put in you can calculate the return.

Here is a simple formula for how to calculate ROI for social media:

Value / investment (people hours, ad budget, etc.) X 100 = social media ROI (as a percentage) Exactly how you work out the ROI in your business depends on your organisation’s objectives (brand awareness, revenue, customer satisfaction, etc.

Which social media platforms should my business have a presence on?

Simply put the ones where your target audience are! One of the most important things you can do before commencing any marketing activity including social media is to spend time really getting to know your target audience. You can do this by using a buyer persona which is based on age, demographics, interests etc. We can then match this to the best platform(s) we feel would suit your brand and business.

Does my company really need a blog for social media marketing?

Blogging is an amazing way to increase your visibility and drive organic traffic to your site through the search engines with keywords. Social Media is a perfect platform to share your blog content and gain more visibility as well as positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

How much time should social media marketing take each week?

The time you spend on social media is relative to each business. The most important thing is that you remain consistent, so set aside time you know is achievable for you. Batch creating content is also a great way to save time rather than coming up with posts on the fly!

How long does it take before I’ll start seeing results from social media marketing?

Social media is not an overnight fix, it is important to look at this as part of your long-term marketing strategy. To build trust, awareness and community around your brand takes time. All customers have a different purchasing approach, and it may take someone to see you posting consistently over a certain period to nurture them enough to buy your product or service. This is simply because it takes some people longer to ‘warm’ up’ and build that connection and trust.

What are some common social media marketing mistakes businesses make?

Incomplete profiles- there is nothing more frustrating than visiting a profile to get information such as opening times, or an email address, to find it is not available.
Not having professional branding- branding is as important as the content you put out and will leave a lasting impression on your target audience.
Spelling mistakes and poor grammar – this loses trust and credibility.

What are some general tips for social media success?

Be social on social media, engage with your audience, and respond to comments.
Retargeting ads from your social media to your website is a great way to attract traffic to your business as these people have already shown an interest in your brand.
Share a variety of enticing and on brand visuals including graphics and video.
Ensure you are putting out a range of content, do not just sell, think of ways to provide value, educate, and engage your audience.
Remain consistent in your efforts.

Author: lisa byrne